Stolen Life
by Casino Nights
Summary: Sonic is a dangerous killer. But it's not his fault entirely- That's just what vampires do. Although he's lonely, and wants a vampiric companion. Only then will he feel safe enough to finally venture out to find his old friends, who were split up from each other long ago. They can work towards ensuring their survival for centuries- and one unlucky girl will unwillingly join him. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! This is my second serious fanfic, unrelated to Tribal Resurgence. I wrote this out of impulse while I was thinking up ideas for the next chapter of that story, but this fic is going to be just as important as that one. Thanks to Richter Solairte for suggesting I do a fic like this! :D - CN**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the fanfiction, they all belong to Sega.**

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**Chapter 1**

The sun was slowly setting over the large Empire City, its pinkish rays illuminating every main road, side street and back-alley for one last time that day before it would disappear for good. The many Mobians about the city, if they had not already done so, began to walk or drive back to their homes for the night from work. For them, this time of day signalled relief and relaxation for the evening as they spent the night in the company of their families. However, some stayed out in order to sample a taste of the city's vibrant nightlife, with restaurants, bars and nightclubs enticing them. For these individuals, it signalled the continuation of their party-heavy double lives and sent a feeling of excitement through them.

And for one individual, it signalled the start of a new day.

Inside one of the abandoned, boarded-up shops on the outskirts of the city, a bright blue hedgehog by the name of Sonic lay fast asleep. He was lying on an old mattress that had yellowed over time, the springs sticking out of the sides. Surrounding him, well, besides the old stock that the clothes shop once had to offer, were strewn many old newspapers, a near-broken alarm clock and other such things that helped him to keep track of time. However, the most interesting thing that was in the makeshift house was an old-fashioned, rather large briefcase. Its design clearly meant that it wasn't here originally and the 6-number combination padlock on it showed that whatever was inside it, the hedgehog didn't want anyone to see.

As the last of the sun's light left Mobius, plunging the city into total darkness, the rusting alarm clock began to sound, sending a shrill continuous ring throughout the building. Oddly, this didn't seem to do anything because the Mobian beside it was still out of it, snoring almost as loud as the alarm clock itself.

"Muh... Five more... min..." Sonic mumbled in his sleep, subconsciously pulling the torn quilt further over his head.

Ten minutes later, the hedgehog finally began to stir with his bright red eyes, once a radiating green colour, opening with much effort. Hitting the clock hard before he moved any other part of his body, he then yawned loudly and stretched himself, preparing for the long night- or, in his case, day- ahead of him. Sitting up on the mattress, he picked up a random newspaper and sighed, resting his hand on his arm. The main headline read, _Fourth corpse found on street, same odd markings on neck- Sick 'vampire' killer strikes again! – More details inside. _Lazily flicking to the page indicated, he began to re-read it for what felt like the millionth time and talked to himself, "Bodies, yeah... Motionless, obviously, stupid... Pale, drained of blood, yadda yadda..."

That last part reminded him of something- Sonic smacked his lips together and frowned, getting up and moving over to the briefcase. "Man, am I thirsty..." he muttered.

He could already smell the contents of it, and a wide grin immediately made itself present on his face, showing off his unnaturally sharp teeth. Without hesitation, the hedgehog entered the combination and opened the briefcase, shuddering with delight as he inhaled deeply, taking the intoxicating aroma of the liquid within deep inside of him. For Sonic, it was like a treasure chest. Test tubes, syringes and sterilising equipment tools were all strapped to it on the interior. It wasn't any of these things that took his fancy, however- He was _much _more interested in the hot liquid in the tubes. He quickly took out a small vial, held it to his mouth and downed it like a shot. Sonic shuddered again at the taste, the red substance cascading down his throat and trickling out from the corner of his mouth. It was like sweet-tasting honey to him, although in reality it could be considered the exact opposite. Blood.

He instantly felt more awake and alert than ever, and after wiping his mouth he threw on a pair of baggy trousers and a sweatshirt from one of the clothing racks. Although it was pretty uncommon for male Mobians to wear clothes, it got quite cold at night sometimes, and the hedgehog's relatively short fur didn't help matters. Briefcase in hand, he walked out into the darkness, searching for his next supply of the red stuff. He wasn't worried about being seen; he was much too fast for any member of the public to catch more than a mere glimpse of him.

_Meanwhile..._

In a TV studio much closer to the heart of the city, a news program had just gone on the air. Reporting what had been happening in and around the city earlier that day was a hedgehog girl named Amy Rose, and beside her at the long table sat a clearly shaken Mobian, a male white-furred hedgehog. Reading off of the autocue, she spoke loudly and clearly, looking directly into the camera, "Hello, citizens of Empire City. This is Amy Rose with the news at ten PM. Unfortunately, yet another dead body has been recovered from an alleyway bearing the same markings as the five others that have been found within the past month, meaning that this is another murder committed by the anonymous figure that has been stalking the city as of late. The victim has been identified as twenty five year-old Mighty the Armadillo, who was found in an alley near to his 2-storey home on Second Street. Reportedly, he had been out partying with his friends and was ambushed by the attacker on his way home. We at the studio send our condolences to his family, and will assure the public that the police force is working on finding out whoever is committing these heinous crimes."

She closed her eyes for two seconds out of sadness and the camera recording her swivelled around slightly to include the other hedgehog in the frame. He was shaking a little and rubbing his hands together, and the reason for that would be revealed very soon. Amy also moved her chair around a little to face the nervous Mobian beside her.

"Although, this is not the only thing that has been discovered tonight. During the week, our studio and newspaper firm have been bombarded by dozens of callers, all claiming to have either seen or have been attacked by this 'vampire', as he or she is known by the media. The victims have reported such odd occurrences as going about their business during the night, but then suddenly falling unconscious and re-awakening late into the morning, feeling dizzy with their arm or leg hurting. Upon closer inspection, they have all discovered small pinpricks on their body, as if pierced by a needle. Some then immediately travelled to a clinic where the doctors told them that they had lost at least a pint of blood during the night- solidly joining it to the murder cases. Whoever is doing this appears to be extracting the blood out of victims with various sizes of needles, but why they are doing this is still a mystery.

"Tonight, I am joined by twenty one year-old Silver the Hedgehog, one of the victims who was also present at the site of Mighty's death late last night. Silver, would you mind describing what happened?"

Silver breathed in and out heavily for a couple of seconds before calming himself down a little. Nervously, he stuttered, "Well, I was one of M-Mighty's friends... We had just left the club when we suddenly heard a loud crack, like a whip or something, and a large amount of wind went past us, which was really weird because there wasn't any wind before. We ignored it and split paths, Mighty jogging away from me to his house through the alleyways while I carried on walking to my car. About t-ten seconds later, I heard him shout like he was really hurt until it faded away... I knew something had happened to him so I tried to run towards his house, but before I could I saw a flash of blue and I passed out... And when I woke up, I f-found a hole... Here. " He shakily pointed at his left arm and brought it closer to the camera.

Amy just shook her head and replied, "Do you think that there could be any reason why he or she would kill your friend, but not you?"

"I don't know... I really don't know..." mumbled Silver, forcing back tears as well as a surge of anger.

...

Sonic, worn out from his most recent blood extraction procedure, leaned against the window of a closed TV and electronics shop. Not many people walked around this side of town, especially not _this _late at night. The TVs in the window were currently on and all displaying the news channel. The blue hedgehog, always curious as to what the media has to say about him, was watching half-heartedly. He was only able to catch the latter half of the News at Ten, but still found himself answering, or correcting, the statements the news reporters made about him under his breath. "Well, I don't kill people unnecessarily. I just wanted enough blood to keep me going then, and save yours for later. It just so happens that I had to take all of his blood... A shame, but I gotta keep going somehow. And the media's right," He whispered proudly, grinning and showing his blood-stained teeth, "I _am _a vampire."

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**Did you like this? Feel free to leave feedback if you want and as always, see you next chapter! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone! Here's the second chapter. I'll try to keep writing/updating on a weekly basis, but I don't know how long I'll be able to stick to that. Anyway, enjoy! :D- CN **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the copyrighted content in this fanfic.**

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**Chapter 2**

Predictably, Sonic's life wasn't nearly as easy as he wanted to think it was. His curse brought on a lot more than just physical changes... Before he had turned, he was a gentle Mobian who although would often act like he knew everything, never went out of his way to be mean to anyone. He was very friendly, and people both looked up to and respected him for his can-do attitude and his powerful leadership skills. If he saw anyone being made fun of, he'd step in immediately, and the problems, if not erased completely, would die down considerably after he'd confronted the offenders. In everyone's eyes, he was regarded as a hero... The exact opposite of what he'd become.

Once upon a time, he would never have thought about killing anyone, even if his own life was on the line... That all changed. Whether he realises it or not, he has killed hundreds of innocent Mobians, and taken blood from thousands more. Nowadays, the many who know about what he does think of him as evil. A monster. A villain. He still didn't like killing, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he tried to prove himself as the hero now, eventually word would get out that he commits murders on a regular basis and he'd be forced to move away. Far away- which wasn't uncommon in his life, and each new move forced him to adapt to the new environment around him, a time-consuming and uncomfortable process. And once he moved away, he could never go back for fear of being remembered and hunted again. And he knew that eventually, he would run out of places to hide.

What would he do then?

Sonic often spent a long time pondering over these questions, and every time he did so he was reminded of all the people's lives he had affected in a negative way. This constant reminder would have driven him insane if it wasn't for the fact that he was constantly being distracted by something else. Ironically, his vampiric lust for blood. That kept him happy, and the resulting euphoria helped to block out those dark thoughts like a hard drug. However, there was one part of his life that he couldn't stop reality from seeping through with, and where he was left to re-live his worst memories and past mistakes over and over again... His dreams. What he did one day in particular he could never, ever shake from his mind, would always regret, and was cursed to see it again almost every day...

_60 years ago..._

In a zone around 20 boundaries away from the one he was in now, hidden in the woods of Emerald Hill Zone was a moderately large house that had seemingly made out of whatever its occupants could find. A sheet of corrugated metal here, a plank of wood there... Anyone passing by would have called it a mess, but it was stable, it was strong and it was what two young Mobians called home. Not that anyone actually saw the place, though. These teens wanted to keep it hidden from the outside world, and they'd succeeded so far.

A light orange fox, named Miles, had just woken up inside the house, looking very sleepy and disoriented. Checking his bright yellow alarm clock which he had made himself not too long ago, he realised that it was around 5PM. Surprised at first, he was confused but soon remembered that he was too excited to get much sleep at all the previous night, and he was a very heavy sleeper just like his friend. He managed to drag himself out of bed and begin to walk through the house with great plodding footsteps, almost zombie-like in nature. Slowly but surely, Miles' usual cheery and intelligent mindset returned to him and he grinned wildly upon remembering what day it was. '_It's my thirteenth birthday!' _He thought as he shuffled past the body of a blue hedgehog, fast asleep himself. Glancing warmly down at his unofficially-pronounced foster parent, he was then also reminded of something else... '_And you promised me something for today, Sonic, but I'll wait for you to get up first.' _

Miles felt even more excited now, but tried to contain it as best he could. He didn't want to wake up Sonic, and so continued on past him while trying to ignore his loud snoring. Once he had manoeuvred through the mass of creaky floorboards undetected, he moved out of the back door and sprinted into the woods to find some water to wash himself in. After all, as his hedgehog companion had told him years ago, "As a golden rule, everyone should find the time to freshen themselves up regardless of who they are, where they are, or the time of day!" He was immediately hit by a large wave of brilliant orange sunlight as it set, making his toothy grin appear even shinier than usual. A group of Flickies flew across the land above him and towards the sun, completing the picturesque view.

_'Wow... I love it when it's like this...' _

Before long, Miles had reached a nearby stream and got on his knees, his face peering over it. A young, innocent face stared back at him with calm blue eyes. Another thought struck him as he was splashing his face with the cool water, '_This might be the last time I ever see myself like this...' _However, this didn't alarm him and only made him more curious and excited for what Sonic had finally planned for him today.

After he had finished cleaning, he began to make his way back to the house and by this time, only a little of the sun's rays were left on the ground, the darkness slowly engulfing them all. He wasn't worried, though, living with Sonic for so long had made him feel at ease with the mysterious night. Once Miles had reached the house, it was almost pitch-black, which meant one thing. '_Sonic must be waking up now!'_

Sure enough, the blue hedgehog was now wide awake and was sitting cross-legged on the table near to the back door, awaiting his best friend's return. Although he had agreed to do thing that he had promised Miles, he had been having doubts about whether he should actually do it or not long before the fox had first brought it up on his eighth birthday, soon after Sonic had told him who he really was, and had been having them ever since, including right at this moment. To his surprise, Miles seemed to take the news very well and immediately began asking him questions about what it was like to be a vampire, and about the validity of the myths surrounding them which he always gave honest answers to...

_'Kinda...' _He told himself mentally. '_I never told him how hard it actually is to be one, but he never asked about that so I just kept my mouth shut... If I don't do this, when I get run out of this place we'll probably never get to see each other again... I've been lucky for the past few years but I know it's gonna happen again soon. And if I do, it's gonna affect him big time and he isn't gonna like it... _

"... Why does this have to be so difficult?" He mumbled the last line out loud, cradling his head in his hands.

As if on cue, an ecstatic Miles burst through the door and beamed when he saw Sonic sitting there. However, his smile faltered a little when he saw the hedgehog's distressed body language. _'Sonic never acts like this...' _ The fox thought, _'I wonder if it's to do with... ?'_

"Sonic, what's wrong?" He asked quite worriedly, closing the door behind him but not taking his eyes off of him.

The hedgehog looked up and tried to hide his feelings, saying, "Nothing, buddy, but... Are you sure you want me to do this?" He asked, pointing at his own neck. "I've been thinking about it for a while and I don't feel one hundred percent confident about this. I know that sounds strange coming from me, but when you actually _become _a vampire you might not like what you find."

Miles was a little confused by his response. Over the years, he had gotten the impression that being a vampire was awesome in his eyes. This was mainly through what rumours he'd heard about them and what few TV programs about them he could watch, and never really took a moment to think about what it would actually be like, despite the fact that he lived with one. Sonic was almost always asleep during the day, and because of this the fox never saw what he did at night. Although, if Miles stayed up late enough to see him come back he'd be greeted with talk about what he'd done during the night-time hours with a very positive attitude, so he never thought for a moment that Sonic would be hiding any dark details from him about his 'profession'.

"...What do you mean?" Miles replied, "What bad things are there about it? I know that you find it hard to stay up during the day, but I thought that was it. Running around in the night, quickly taking blood from Mobians like a ninja and making it back inside before dawn! That's what you've been telling me since I was eight, and I've always thought that that would be so thrilling!"

Sonic sighed. "Well... You probably know that my life is completely different to yours, right? That includes awesome things, like getting to see a side of the cities nearby that not many people get to see and the fact that my senses are way past advanced, but there are also some bad things about it too. For example, if I don't control my blood intake properly, I could end up dead. You gotta know the right ratio to fit your height and weight and which blood types to go for. If I ever accidentally got the wrong ones, I'd get seriously ill. Do you know your blood type?"

The fox held a look of contemplation for a moment before replying, "No, I don't..."

"Exactly. You couldn't go to a doctor's 'cause you wouldn't be able to on your own, and I never wanted to test that myself. I doubt you'd want me sucking _your _blood! Seriously though, that would be problematic as soon as you turned. As well as this, you'd have to live away from everyone else, and that's harder than it sounds."

"But _we _live together." Miles protested, "If I was a vampire like you, we could travel around together and we'd never be apart!"

"That's just the thing... Vampires travel alone 'cause if they were together for a long time, it'd make them more likely to be caught. I'm sorry about this, but just by staying with you for this long I've been putting both you and me in serious danger. Tails," Sonic said, calling the fox a nickname that they'd thought up when they were younger, "I think you're the best, and I promised to always protect you, but it'll get a lot harder to do later down the line.", he explained, giving his best friend a concerned look.

"You always told me that there was strength in numbers..."

"I know, but in a vampire's case that's only with a group of about 5 or more Mobians. Any less than that and if anything bad happened, we wouldn't really stand a chance." , said Sonic in a slightly saddened tone.

Miles, even after learning about these new harsh facts about vampires, still wasn't fazed and in fact, this made him more curious. "What would pose a threat to a vampire?" He asked nonchalantly.

"A lot of things, unfortunately. Our enhanced abilities don't give us bullet-proof skin or anything like that. Anything that causes harm to an average Mobian could still kill a vampire: bullet wounds, drowning, burning, being crushed... but our better senses keep us better prepared for if any danger comes our way. A pair of gunmen could easily kill us, Tails. But most of the things you see actors kill vampires with on TV won't harm us at all, like stakes, holy water, crosses, garlic- but I'm allergic to that last thing. Pretty ironic, huh..."

There was a silence as the fox thought everything over for a few seconds, before saying, "Then why don't we do that?"

"Do what, buddy?" the hedgehog asked back, still trying to sound as fine as possible.

"Why don't you turn me, and then we can go on a journey to find more vampires!"

Another silence. This time, it was Sonic who had to think that through. _'That was what I had in mind for a... Plan B anyway. If they found me I would be forced to run away from Tails, for his safety and my own, and try and find other vampires. And he's right, if I go he'll probably die of old age before I'd feel safe enough to come back to this zone again... And I can't let him spend the rest of his life wondering where I was, waiting for me to visit him, not after all the years I've spent raising him and trying to be the best big brother he could have asked for...' _

Sonic sighed again before finally saying, "... Okay, little bro."

-_Back in the present-_

He didn't know it back then, but soon after he had turned his best friend into a vampire, he realised that doing that was the worst mistake of his life... The hedgehog who was now crying in his sleep was definitely not the Mobian he wanted to be known as, but the reality of it couldn't escape him. He cursed his best friend, he exposed him to great danger, and it made him suffer the consequences of that. "Tails... bud..." He mumbled, subconsciously reaching for his charred, flaky yellow alarm clock and holding it close to him.

Every time he had this haunting vision, it drilled the fact that he'd been alone for over five decades into him more and more. It made Sonic all the more hungry for company, but he was almost certainly convinced that finding it would be hard and a lot of effort. And to him, there was no-one who could ever replace Tails. And that's why he'd adapted to a life of solitude and stuck to it for so long, trying to ignore the emotional pain he felt so often. To him, it would be great to have another friend... If he could actually find one.

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**This is my longest chapter for any of my stories so far... Anyway, feel free to give feedback about this via review if you want.**

**Thanks to: Adorablehedgi12 for reviewing, favouriting and following this story, 56th Reg. Sergeant Epps Hande for reviewing, favouriting and following, Richter Solairte for reviewing, SonamyFan16 for favouriting, SonicIsMyHero2000 for favouriting, and Tina79479 for favouriting too! You're all awesome people, and I promise I'll update again soon. See you next chapter! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again, everyone! I take that back, ****_this_**** is the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope it pays off... Also, I've finalised what's going to happen in the seventh chapter of Tribal Resurgence so if exam revision doesn't get in the way, I'll start writing that soon. Enjoy! :D - CN**

**Disclaimer- I don't own any of the copyrighted material in this fanfic.**

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**Chapter 3**

_The next night..._

Sonic was getting a little frustrated. He had been wandering around the empty streets of Empire City for two hours now and he still hadn't found a suitable Mobian to take blood from. Although his briefcase, which was currently swinging beside him, was almost full of blood samples, the hedgehog had stuck by the notion that he needed all of the test tubes to have been topped up at any one time.

_'C'mon, where are you...?' _He thought to himself impatiently, his bright red eyes rapidly searching for a target.

To him, this didn't make any sense at all. Tonight, he had decided to take the rooftop route around town to give him a better view of the city below him. It wouldn't make anyone suspicious because it was an official route used by many Mobians during the day- anyone who saw him would just assume he was making his way home just like everybody had to during the night. _'Not that they'd be able to make a recognisable figure outta me anyway!' _Sonic reminded himself. _'So where is everyone? What would be stopping them from staying out tonight?' _

The blue hedgehog then jumped down from his elevated position in order to go to what he thought would be a more populated area. With his hand curled around his chin, he thought, '_Hmm... How about...' _Sonic snapped his fingers quietly as an idea came to him, '_The park! There are always at least some Mobians sleeping there, so I'll most likely be in luck. And that's about four miles away from here, so...'_

Without hesitation, Sonic began to sprint towards his destination, picking up more and more speed as he did so. He grinned to himself, _'Heh, they didn't used to call me the blue blur for nothing.'_

...

Close to the park, there stood a very tall skyscraper which mainly served as the home of the local newspaper and news network, both owned by the same company. Most of its floors were occupied with many rows of Mobians at desks working long into the night, scouring the Internet and answering as many phone calls as they could in order to announce the most important news across the whole of Mobius first. On the very top floor of this humongous building was the main news studio, and inside it was Amy Rose who was currently just finishing her broadcast lines.

Again, she found herself reading out the most up-to-date story about the mysterious killer, and although she felt quite scared by some of the things she'd heard, the confident hedgehog was quick to dismiss most of the things as just nasty rumours spread to scare people. And after all, she must keep a completely neutral expression when she was on air as to not make the viewers at home feel uncomfortable. Amy didn't really like doing it as her forced dull, monotonous voice was such a sharp contrast to her vibrant personality off the air, but it was for the sake of other Mobians and if there was one thing she loved to do it was to help others when she could.

"... Due to the fact that many new victims of the murderer seem to be appearing daily, we at the studio would like to re-issue this warning message. Make sure you are safely inside your house _before_ night falls, and make sure to keep your doors and windows locked. As the cases are cropping up from all over this Zone, we are unsure as to when and where this Mobian will strike next. Only venture outside after the sun sets only if it is completely necessary, and if you do go out it is advised that you do not go alone. The more Mobians that are with you, the safer you will be. And, as always, we can assure you that the police force and local detective agencies are working twenty four hours a day to piece together clues in the hope in that this criminal will be captured and questioned very soon. This concludes the News at Ten. Have a safe night.", Amy concluded, sighing with relief after seeing that the fox cameraman in front of her had signalled that she was off the air again.

She drunk the remainder of the water that was in a glass on the table beside her before she collected her things and made her way over to the lift in the centre of the floor she was on. However, before she could press the ground floor button, a young rabbit girl with large brown eyes almost skipped into the lift after her. Her name was Cream, and she'd known Amy since she was very young. It was just a strange coincidence that they both decided to follow the career path of journalism as well as the fact that they both ended up working up at the same studio, too.

"Hi, Amy!" She said in a sing-song voice, smiling at the hedgehog. She pushed the ground floor button for Amy before continuing, "How has your day been? I'm sorry for not talking to you before now but I've been quite busy..."

"That's okay, Cream. I've been busy too! My day's been really good, I went to a nice cafe for lunch before I arrived here and-" Amy stopped for a moment, recalling something else, "That reminds me! Have you heard about the new Italian restaurant opening later this week?"

The rabbit nodded in response, "Yes, I got a leaflet in the post about it. Italian food isn't my favourite, but I wouldn't mind trying it out someday!"

"Me too!" Amy smiled back, and asked politely, "And how was your day?"

"Well, I filed paperwork and answered phone calls for most of the day, but that wasn't too bad. Although, I have some bad news..." said Cream, her cheery tone of voice becoming harder to detect as a wave of sadness began to engulf her. This had a chain reaction-like effect on her friend whose face began to fall as she said the last sentence.

The hedgehog cautiously said, "Oh, no... What is it, Cream?" It was clear in her emerald eyes that she was worried about what the other Mobian was going to say next.

Gulping, Cream explained shakily, "There has been another murder that was committed the same way as the others in the blood loss case... I was talking to a police officer who said that they had found the body of a male duck on the other side of town to where the armadillo was found. It was about two days old and he's been identified as Bean the Dynamite..."

This was a shock to the pink hedgehog as she thought, '_What? Oh my God... We went to high school with him...' _A definite frown was plastered on her face now, and she replied out loud, "This is terrible... Why would anyone want to do this?"

"I'm w-wondering that too... Why would they want to kill innocent M-Mobians like this? In that way as well... It doesn't make sense!" Cream, a more fragile individual than Amy, couldn't stop her bottom lip from trembling a little out of sadness.

Upon seeing this, Amy pulled her friend into a soft hug to try and comfort her. She felt tears emerging from her own eyes as well but tried to hold them back a little. She whispered, "We _will _find out who's doing this, and when they're captured the judge won't let them go lightly. It's just a matter of when..."

Cream nodded silently, sniffling with her head resting on Amy's shoulder. At that moment, the lift slowed to a stop and the doors opened up on the ground floor. They parted from the hug and after saying a quiet goodbye to each other, Cream walked out of the building to get to her car whereas Amy stood still just outside the lift, still lightly thinking about the news Cream had given her as well as the many Mobians who had been affected by the killer. The pink hedgehog was starting to worry about the attacks becoming more frequent, as well as the chances of the murderer picking her or Cream as their next victim.

_'Hmm... My house isn't very far from here, and I could just walk there. But do I want to take that chance now? It would be safer to get in a taxi... I think I'll do just that.'_ Amy smiled at the comforting thought and made her way through the automatic doors of the building, Cream getting into her car and driving away. However, her spirits were about to be brought down for a second time as she saw the last of the late-night taxis outside the studio speed off into the distance...

Sighing to herself, she thought, _'If I call a taxi it would take at least half an hour to get here, and it would be rude for me to ask Cream to turn around now and pick me up, she lives really far away from me...' _She pouted a little before finally deciding, _'I guess I should just walk home now and hope for the best. Through the park! That'll give me the best view of my surroundings so I can call the authorities as soon as I notice anything suspicious.' _

Now feeling very confident, Amy straightened out her dress a bit, made sure that the road was clear of cars so that she could cross it and began on her journey home. She was determined to get home safely, and blocked out the growing feeling of paranoia as she ventured out into the darkness as best as she could.

...

Rushing through the park gates and onto the concrete path at a lightning-fast pace, Sonic quickly remembered to apply the 'brakes', that is, to slam his feet down towards the ground which slowly lowered his velocity until he stopped well inside the park. Oddly, he smelled a very strong stench of burning rubber which caused him to do a small search for the source of it until he realised that it was coming from his own feet... Sonic frowned and lifted up one shoe to inspect the bottom of it, and discovered that there was a large section of it that had been worn away so much due to the friction that there was a huge hole in it. As well as this, as the hedgehog unfortunately found out, both shoes were now on fire.

"Yeowch!" yelled Sonic out of pain, stamping on the ground repeatedly until the flames had extinguished. Afterwards, he kicked both of his trainers off into a dustbin close by. _'I've gotta remember not to do that on tarmac- but at least I won't run out of them. There are enough trainers back at home to last me a really long time.' _

Suddenly, he froze as his enhanced senses picked up light footsteps in the distance, somewhere behind him... '_Someone else just walked in the park... Crap. They better not have seen m-'_

"Excuse me, sir?" A feminine voice called out to him from the park gates, confused as to what she just saw. "Are you okay?"

Not knowing what to do in this situation, Sonic began to panic. He had never been seen for more than a few seconds by most people in decades and now he was desperately trying to think up of a plan. _'How much of what I just did did she see? I can't leave now, she's looked at me for too long- and if I do eventually get accused of taking blood from someone by the authorities, she'll be able to point me out in a heartbeat and I'll have to move again...' , _he thought. _'I could kill her, though... I just need to check-' _He sniffed the air, trying to catch the faint scent of her blood, _'Damn, wrong blood type! Now what?'_

Then, as the truth began to sink in, he quietly groaned and took out a pair of green contact lenses which he kept in his briefcase for real emergencies, put them on and snapped it shut again in the space of a second. He was going to have to talk to the girl. _'How the hell am I gonna explain this?'_

Grudgingly, he turned around on the spot to be in the general direction of the other Mobian and was really surprised to find that she was walking towards him, and she was only a few metres away from him now. And he recognised her almost instantly. In front of him now was Amy Rose, the same news reporter who had been telling the whole of Empire City what he'd been doing since the media first caught wind of the murders. She was giving him a curious look, moving a hand through her head fur out of instinct. It was at this point that he noticed just how different she both looked and acted while she was off the air. Her voice had a lot more character to it and she must have pulled the same type of hair band she wore while she was reporting off, letting her surprisingly long hair flow to about midway down her back. '_Maybe this won't be so bad after all... Wait, she's expecting an answer from you! Stop talking to yourself and respond before she gets suspicious!'_ He scolded himself mentally for getting distracted.

"Yeah..." Sonic finally replied to the other hedgehog nervously. "I'm just fine. Just wondering, are you the girl who does the ten o'clock news?" He asked her, knowing perfectly well who she was but he didn't really know what else to say.

Amy answered, "Yes, I am." Although she got asked this all the time, she still couldn't shake the feeling of slight flattery she got every time she heard it. Although, what she was about to say next showed clearly why the curious look towards the hedgehog was still held on her face even after they had talked. "Are you sure you're okay? I heard you yell and saw you kick your shoes into the bin!"

"Oh, well, erm..." Sonic stalled, trying to come up with a story, "They were falling apart anyway. I was just walking through here when I stepped on a sharp stone and freaked out a little, 'cause the bottom of them had worn away a ton so it got stuck in my foot. It's alright now, though. I've still got socks on and plenty more shoes back home. I just thought that it would make sense to get rid of 'em now is all."

Unfortunately for Sonic, this patchy explanation just created a lot more unanswered questions for the pink hedgehog. "I understand." said Amy, "But haven't you heard? It's not safe to walk out in the dark alone anymore. Not with the killer on the loose... If you've seen my recent broadcasts you would've remembered that, right? Not many people at all are out at night anymore because back at the studio, we advised everyone to stay indoors. If you just came outside to throw your shoes away, couldn't you have waited until morning?"

"Uh..." Sonic was really in it now. His eyes scanned the area desperately to find visual clues to aid him in making up another story on the spot, and they laid to rest on a discarded pizza box on the floor next to the bin. "I'm out now 'cause I'm a... pizza delivery boy. Mobians are getting scared about the murderer getting them so they're all staying inside, meaning that more of 'em are ordering food over the phone to be delivered to their house. I'm fine with it 'cause it means I earn more money. And most of the trips are short anyway so I'm not outside for too long. I was on my way back to HQ, actually, so it was convenient for me to put my shoes in a bin on my way around. But I had a dumb moment and forgot to take a spare pair with me to wear afterwards." _'Man, it feels so weird to talk about myself in third person...'_

Amy took a few moments to take this all in, and to Sonic's relief nodded understandingly, now smiling a little. Why, he had no idea, but either way this gave him precious time to think about the next part of the story. '_Now she's gonna wonder where my delivery vehicle is... Gotta think, fast!'_

The blue hedgehog continued, "See, that's why I was so desperate to drop my shoes off now. I've had to do all the deliveries on foot for a while now 'cause my boss had to sell the bikes we used to use to help pay for an..." He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second as he remembered reading something in one of the newspapers he had, "Actual restaurant for our company. It doesn't bother me in the slightest, though, 'cause again the journeys are pretty short anyway."

Immediately, Amy began to show more interest in what he was saying. "... Wait, is that the same restaurant that's opening later this week on Acorn Street? I've been looking forward to when it opens because I love that type of food so much! I've already been planning to take friends with me on the day it opens." Her voice became a lot more cheery and this made Sonic feel more at ease talking to her. With all the questions he was being asked by her previously it felt like he was being interrogated, ironically something that would be happening to him right now anyway if she recognised him.

"Yeah! That's it!", said Sonic very enthusiastically. Without thinking, he said, "I'm looking forward to seeing you there!"

Knowing that he had worded that sentence in the worst possible way, the hedgehog immediately felt guilty and began to scold himself yet again. _'Why'd you say that? Now she probably thinks you're a stalker or something!'_ Amy's silence after this made him fear the worst, but was surprised to find that she was looking away, and... blushing slightly? _'Huh? Why's she doing that? Oh... right...'_

Trying to put an end to the awkward silence, Sonic stuttered, "S-so... Why are you out here on _your _ own? Wouldn't it make sense for a local celebrity to be more cautious with what they do?"

_'Damnit, you did it again! She's not a local celebrity! Argh... Why am I saying these things?'_, he thought, confused and a little angry about what he'd just said.

If Amy had looked a bit red before, then her cheeks were redder than a tomato now. Quietly, she said, "M-my house isn't very far from here. I usually walk home from work, but because of recent events I've been taking taxis during the night. However, I missed them tonight so I had to walk home alone..."

Sonic replied, "Okay... I understand." He didn't realise that he was basically quoting what she had said to him earlier, but Amy definitely noticed as there was another long silence after this.

Finally, the pink hedgehog spoke up, "Well, it's been nice to meet you, but unfortunately I need to be on my way... What's your name, anyway?"

Unknowingly pulling the biggest cocky grin he could muster, he said, "It's Sonic. And I agree, I gotta get moving too. See ya around!"

"Yeah... At the restaurant..." Amy said back, giving him one last genuinely caring smile before walking straight past him and into the night.

Meanwhile, Sonic was left standing there, confused about what had just happened. Holding one of his hands up to his face, he murmured, "... Now what am I going to do?"

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**Did you like it? Feel free to leave feeback if you feel like it. Thanks to Adorablehedgi12 for reviewing, The Chuckinator for favouriting, Shadowscast214 for reviewing, favouriting and following, and Musicluver45 for favouriting and following too! Keep on being awesome. See you next chapter! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the massive delay! Homework and other things messed up my schedule big time... I promise, the next chapter will actually have plot progression! XD - CN**

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**Chapter 4**

_The next day..._

After what Amy had told him the day before, Sonic realised that he suddenly had many more problems to try and deal with. Back inside the old clothes shop, he was now thinking everything through yet again, although now with a much more worried expression. The blue hedgehog really wasn't used to doing this sort of thing, and to have to do it just when he thought he could kick back and relax in Empire City for a couple of decades got him annoyed. Lying on his bed, he thought to himself, '_Now I can't get any more blood off of anyone without breaking and entering... And there's no way I'd resort to doing that.' _Sonic shook his head, '_Way too risky... At least I have a lot of blood on me at the moment.'_

The only thing he could really do to prevent himself from dying of boredom was to read the most recent newspaper, which he had conveniently found in the very same bin that he threw his shoes into. Of course, he had to wait a while for Amy to walk out of his line of vision before he safely fished it out. He didn't want her to ask him any more questions. Suddenly, his concentration on the current page was immediately broken as the pink hedgehog re-surfaced in his mind.

"Amy..." murmured Sonic quietly. He felt that the girl was the root of at least two of his problems, but he knew that it wasn't her fault. '_She was just doing her job. Reporting is what she does for a living, and it just so happened that she was told to tell the Mobian population of the whole Zone to set themselves a sunset curfew. She had no idea what she was doing would affect me... Only now, I might go feral in a few days and I sure as hell don't want _that _happening.'_

Unfortunately for Sonic, his altered genetic makeup revolved around blood. Traditionally, or so Tails had told him so many years ago, fictional vampires would die if they didn't drink enough of the liquid. However, the actual result was very different. As the body depended on the blood for survival, but did not actually require it for keeping itself going as it theoretically could live on ordinary food and drink, the unlucky Mobian's bodies would go into 'overdrive mode', so to speak. They needed blood, _badly, _and so they will do anything in their power to get it, and it is most easily obtainable by turning feral and ripping up other Mobians to get at their blood. Sonic himself had had to deal with one of these mad creatures in the past and so he knew first-hand that it wasn't a pretty experience.

_'And even worse, I actually had to talk to her! She knows what I look like, and that's gonna put us both in danger! I don't want her wound up in this...' _ Sonic took a moment to look into a cracked mirror on the wall and sighed when he saw no reflection of himself at all, save for his gloves and shoes. _'An' she's nice, too... I bet if I wasn't a bloodsucker right now we could've gotten along well...'_

Then, his eyes widened as he realised what , realistically, his only option was. Deep down he knew that he would have to do this, and Sonic supposed that he had subconsciously tried to block it out with all the other recent occurrences affecting him. _'I'll just have to... No. I'm not gonna turn her. She doesn't even know I'm a vampire yet! _ _Just... Don't think about that now.'_ The hedgehog tried to calm himself down, _'You have plenty of time to decide, but you've gotta sort out the restaurant problem first.'_

Nodding to himself, he pondered out loud, "Now, where is this place anyway? 'Acorn Street' isn't much to go on..." Thus, he had to begin the long and boring task of trawling through all the newspapers he had in search for one of the new restaurant's adverts.

...

Amy Rose was relaxing at home after finishing her last news-reading for the night. Luckily, she was able to catch a taxi home earlier that night and that made her feel a lot safer, because she was still paranoid about the chances of her running into the killer while walking home. She had received information via the police, which she was told to talk about on air, that the locations where the victims were found were very spread out and in seemingly random places. She had heard that two people had been affected on either sides of the city on the same night, which seemed impossible to her. How could someone do it all that fast? The killer wouldn't want to arouse suspicion by taking a taxi around... Unless they were so good at covering themselves up that it wouldn't matter? Amy thought that either there must be more than one Mobian behind the murders, or that this single Mobian was a criminal mastermind. But what sort of criminal mastermind would just take blood samples from people?

She shook her head, clearing her mind of those thoughts._ I really need to calm down... I'm sure that the police will sort everything out. _The pink hedgehog was sitting down on a small sofa in her living room, watching the TV behind tired eyes. She knew that she should really be in bed right now, but as she had been doing the nightly broadcasts for about a month now her body clock had been thrown out of whack. So, with a glass of warm milk in-hand she simply stared at the screen, laughing whenever something comedic happened on the program.

Amy's house phone then began to ring rather sharply, and this made her feel wide awake again. This also took her off guard, because her family and friends knew not to call her after she comes home from work in case she could already be in bed. _So who could be calling me now? _She pondered as she slowly got up and walked towards the phone. As she picked it up and brought it to her pointed ear, she immediately heard Cream's cheery voice flow through the line. Although, like the previous night the rabbit sounded more serious than usual. "Hi, Amy! I know I should have waited until tomorrow to tell you this, but I think it's really important..."

The pink hedgehog replied, "Hello, Cream!" A concerned expression grew on her face as she heard the tone of Cream's voice. "That's okay. If it's this important, I'll be happy to listen."

The rabbit then spoke back, "While we were at work earlier, I overheard a theory made by one of the police outside the building when he was talking to another official on the phone about why the killer... kills people the way they do. Amy, they think that the murderer could be using the blood to sell to private doctor's clinics so they can make a lot of money..."

Amy nodded on her end of the phone, a little unnerved by the theory. "That's very intriguing... But it's the most plausible one I've heard so far. It would explain a lot of what's been happening recently..."

"And this means that it's going to be easier to catch them than they thought, because all they have to do now is interrogate a few doctors instead of keeping watch on the whole city for them! I think they might need a bit more evidence but it looks like it could be happening." Cream's tone became noticeably lighter as she said this.

The hedgehog couldn't stop herself from smiling at this, and she felt more relieved about the situation. "Great! Thanks for sharing it with me. At the very least, it's going to help me understand what I'll be talking about tomorrow night!"

Cream then said, "You're welcome! I'm glad it helped you. You never know, tomorrow we could wake up and hear that they've found the killer!"

"I wish that would happen too. I've been hoping that would happen every night, and I'm not going to stop any time soon." Amy sounded a little more serious but nevertheless kept her smile.

"Neither will I, Amy!" , the rabbit exclaimed. Instead of the usual cheery response, Cream heard a loud yawn coming from the other end of the line. She then looked up at the clock in her own living room to see that it was 12:30 AM. _Wow, I didn't realise it was _that_ late! No wonder Amy's yawning..._

As Cream expected, Amy replied, "Sorry about that, I'm pretty tired..."

"I guess that's what happens when you have the night shift!" The rabbit said while giggling in response. However, due to the contagious nature of them, Cream found herself yawning too. Feeling slightly guilty, she asked the hedgehog, "I'm not keeping you from going to bed, am I?"

"Not at all, Cream! We don't have to get up until around midday, so I wasn't planning on going to bed for about another hour.", answered Amy, finishing her sentence off with another yawn. "Saying that, I doubt that I would make it that long before I fell asleep on the sofa!"

Cream laughed again at that, before saying quite tiredly, "Thinking about it, we could both do with a rest... If anything else pops up while I'm working, I'll be sure to tell you, OK?"

"OK, and I'll do the same to you! Goodnight!" said Amy, stifling another yawn.

"You too! Sweet dreams!" said Cream politely, before she ended the call. The beige-coloured rabbit instantly began to make her way to bed, however Amy went back to the sofa.

...

"Bingo..." Sonic said to himself as he had finally found what he wanted. He traced his finger over the page to where it was and smirked, reading its contents aloud. "Le Tre Volpi... Promising to provide the finest traditional Italian food available. We give you the choice of either eating in the restaurant or ordering from home, in which case we will... deliver it to you for a lower price?" _Yes! _The hedgehog thought, _They actually do deliveries! Man, was that lucky... _

Satisfied, Sonic decided to skip the rest to the article in order to concentrate on the actual address. "You will be able to find us from Friday, 4pm to 12am, on Acorn Street, in the Sanderson District, East Empire..." _Really? That's on the other side of this zone! _The blue hedgehog's mood was quickly brought back down to normal after reading this. _But at least I know where it is now..._ He mentally ticked an imaginary box. _Next, makin' the reservation. _Reading the article through a couple more times, it quickly came to Sonic's attention that it didn't specify how to reserve a place. It didn't even give out a phone number, and this confused him for a few seconds before he mentally slapped himself. _If it's not open yet, they probably haven't given out the phone number... "_What am I gonna do now? I mean, I can't just turn up on opening day an' try an' sneak in..."

The hedgehog rubbed his temple in annoyance. "Well, I guess I've got a few days to plan this..."

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**As I said, nothing really happens here. XD Thanks for everyone who reviewed and favourited this fic! There's too many of you to count now. Again, feel free to give feedback if you feel like it. Until next time... - CN**


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